Best Spellblade leveling build in Last Epoch

The Spellblade might not be the most popular Mastery in the Mage class in Last Epoch, but when used correctly, it can be a dominant force that allows you to sweep through the campaign.

While there’s nothing wrong with experimenting with different builds along the way to the endgame, I have a basic but powerful leveling build that’s considered “meta” for early-midgame Spellblades in Last Epoch. You can see all the spells, passives, idols, and affixes you should use with the build in the guide below.

Spellblade leveling build in Last Epoch

Unlike the other Mage Masteries, your leveling build stays relatively the same during the entire campaign as a Spellblade. This means you can unlock most of the spells you need fairly early, allowing you to specialize them quickly. Below, take a look at what spells and other aspects of the build you should use:

Spells

• Firebrand (your single enemy spell you’ll attack with most of the time)
• Shatter Strike (your clearing spell to deal with lots of enemies or a boss)
• Enchant Weapon (increases damage)
• Flame Ward (protects you from enemy attacks and deals retaliation damage
• Teleport (move quickly out of danger)

Class Passives

• Mage Tree: Scholar, Arcanist, Mage Flurry
• Sorcerer Tree: Arcane Momentum
• Runemaster Tree: Unsealed Mana, Arcane Focus
• Spellblade Tree: Elemental Affinity, Arcane Warden, Arcane Shielding, Shattered Aegis, Essence Duel, Mana Reaver, Gemini, Prismatic Blade, Outrun and Outlast, Blade Weaver

Skill Passives (Specializations)

• Firebrand: Fulmination, Undying Fire, Pyroshielding, Wildfire, Incineration, Illuminating Fire, Everflames, Fading Flame
• Shatter Strike: Shiver, Cold Steel, Absolute Zero, Lingering Chill, Breadth of Cold, Whiteout, Solidify
• Enchant Weapon: Celerity,
• Flame Ward: Stalwart Defense, Dilation, Barrier, Warden Pulse, Desperate Defense, Fuel the Flames, Duel Aegis, Prismatic Buffer, Shrewd Shielding
• Teleport: Comet Rush, Resonant Plasma, Elemental Affinity, Unexpected Copy

Stats and Affixes

• Fire/Cold Damage
• Intelligence
• Vitality
• Armor
• Cast Speed
• Ward per second
• Mana
• Physical Resistance
• Spell Damage
• Critical Strike Chance/Multiplier

Idol Stats

• Physical/Elemental Resistances
• Healing effectiveness
• Increased Health
• Elemental Damage

The one hiccup with this leveling build is you have to put a decent number of points into the Spellblade passive tree to gain access to the Firebrand spell. Until you do that, you can use a spell of a similar caliber, such as Glacier or Volcanic Orb, both of which are unlocked through the Mage passive tree. You also have to do the same with Enchant Weapon, and I recommend going with the Mana Strike spell until you gain access to that.

Once your build is set up, your rotation of spells goes: Firebrand for clearing single enemies, Shatter Strike for clearing large hordes, Enchant Weapon for extra damage, Flame Ward for when your HP starts to drop, and Teleport if you need to escape a sticky situation. I recommend using Enchant Weapon to start a large engagement and then going into your uses of Firebrand. You can train a large group of enemies to follow you and then mash them with a Shatter Strike.

This Spellblade build has the potential for massive damage, but as with all Mages in Last Epoch, you need to watch your HP because you won’t have much to spare. That’s where Flame Ward can come into play, but not even that skill can protect you for too long.

If you want to try another Mage Mastery on a different account in Last Epoch, check out my previous guide on the leveling build for the Sorcerer.